Anger as Zim land invader seeks Canadian residency
By Alex Bell
20 August 2012
There has been an angry reaction to news that a Zimbabwean land invader who
has successfully led the prosecution of a white farmer in Chegutu is now
applying for permanent residency in Canada.
ZANU PF official Timothy Mudavanhu is believed to have already filed his
application. His daughter and her family are Canadian residents.
Since 2001 Mudavanhu has spearheaded an intensive campaign to evict the
South African born Dirk Visagie from his Wantage farm in Chegutu. This is
despite being given a different piece of land as part of the land grab
campaign. The Visagie’s meanwhile had bought the property from a government
parastatal and received a ‘Certificate of no interest’ from the Ministry of
Lands.
But Mudavanhu insisted the Visagie property was the one he wanted and he
soon initiated a campaign of harassment and intimidation that included
moving hired thugs onto the property, breaking into the Visagie family home
and lighting raging veld fires. The family has also faced off physical
violence, often with no assistance from the police, who repeatedly insisted
the matter was a ‘political’ one.
In January 2011 Visagie was criminally charged for a second time in four
years for illegally occupying State land “without authority”. This has now
resulted in a judgement by a Chegutu magistrate who passed a guilty sentence
against Visagie last week.
John Worsley-Worswick from Justice for Agriculture (JAG) told SW Radio
Africa on Monday that the case is “a further indication of the breakdown of
the rule of law in Zimbabwe.”
“This is again the total disregard of international protocols, of
international laws,” Worsley-Worswick said, referring to the fact that
Visagie is meant to be protected by a bilateral investment agreement (BIPPA)
between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Visagie meanwhile was also meant to be protected by a landmark ruling in the
regional human rights Tribunal in 2008. The SADC court ruled that the land
grab campaign was unlawful and ordered the then ZANU PF government to
protect the remaining farmers.
This never happened and instead the court was suspended by SADC leaders
almost two years ago, in what was widely regarded as a clear sign of loyalty
to Robert Mugabe. The court looks set to never again possess the same human
rights mandate, after a weekend Summit of SADC leaders made steps to hobble
to court’s work.
Worsley-Worswick meanwhile called on the Canadian authorities to issue a
strong statement against Mudavanhu’s attempts to get a permit to remain in
that country.
“We are absolutely shocked to hear he is trying to get into Canada and we
hope the authorities have a strong statement about this,” Worsley-Worswick
said.